Biolite FirePit takes the smoke out of the campfire

October 25, 2017

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2 minute read

I have a confession to make: I hate campfires. More specifically, I can’t stand the smoke from campfires. Love the flames, hate the smoke.

While it’s particularly annoying in a crowded campgrounds, where multiple fires has the air feeling reminiscent of LA on a smoggy day, even when camping away from the masses, the smoke from a fire can have you dancing circles around the fire ring and chanting “I hate rabbits!” (I did not encountered this superstition until recently, but I’ll try anything to get the smoke out of my face.)

So, imagine my delight when I heard about the Biolite FirePit, and smoke-less wood burning firepit that doubles as a habachi grill. The key to the device is a battery powered fan that pumps oxygen into the fire through air jets , allowing the flames to burn the wood entirely.

“When you see smoke coming off of a typical campfire or firepit, that’s unburnt fuel; particulate matter that could have been combusted inside of the fire,” Biolite wrote on its Kickstarter page for the firepit, “but instead it’s getting on your clothes, in your hair, and more importantly, in your lungs (that’s why so many of us get a headache about an hour or two after sitting around a campfire).”

Yes, yes, yes! The 27-inch x 10-inch firepit comes with a grill grate for cooking, and you can control the speed of the fan, and therefore the rate of the burn, with an app on your phone. The sides of the pit are constructed with a mesh so you can see the flames. The device has folding legs, so you can put it in a bag for transport.

My enthusiasm aside, I haven’t used the FirePit, so I can’t give it an endorsement at this point. The guys at Gear Junkie gave it a good overall review. It was more portable than the Solo Stove, another portable fire pit, they concluded, but produced more smoke.

Biolite’s recent Kickstart campaign raised over $2.5 million to launch the FirePits into production. The stoves are expected to be available in August 2018.